Real Madrid kept alive their chances of overhauling Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league when they came from behind to beat Almería 2-1. Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael van der Vaart scored Real's goals.

Barça followed up Saturday's 2-0 victory over Real with a 3-0 home win over Deportivo la Coruña yesterday to move six points clear on 83 points. Real's dogged win in Andulacia has put the gap back to three.

Real started badly and Albert Crusat gave Almería a shock lead in the 14th minute at the Juegos Mediterraneos stadium. Ronaldo carved his way through the home defence to equalise just before the half-hour.

Real nearly went ahead through the midfielder Guti, whose low shot hit the post three minutes later, while Gonzalo Higuaín had an effort cleared off the line before Van der Vaart drove home from just outside the area, midway through the second half.